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WBC 2023: How Team USA is managing MLB playoff-level pressure

PHOENIX -- Just over five months since he made his first MLB postseason appearance with the New York Mets, Pete Alonso was gearing up for another pressure-filled stretch of baseball -- this time, for Team USA.

"My first playoff experience was this past season," Alonso told the gathered crowd at World Baseball Classic media day. "It was only three games and it was a short-lived playoff experience. And after we were done, the feeling I came back with was, 'Man, I want more of this.'

"Because that playoff baseball feeling, it's addictive. And I want to put myself in every opportunity to be in those high-pressure, high-leverage situations.